


Make an Honest Woman Out of Me

by kissmyaxequeen91



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Ableism, Adoption, Alpha Nicole Haught, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Amputation, Angst, Awkwardness, Bullying, Coming Out, Disability, F/F, F/M, Family Secrets, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Smut, Foster Care, Friends to Lovers, Girl Penis, High School, Humor, Mutual Pining, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Waverly Earp, Omega Wynonna Earp, Physical Disability, Secrets, Sex, Smut, Strangers to Lovers, Teenagers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-19 01:27:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29867052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissmyaxequeen91/pseuds/kissmyaxequeen91
Summary: In high school, teens fake it until they make it. However, Purgatory newcomer yet sports star Nicole and town darling yet wallflower girl next door Waverly are far from normal.Nicole bounced around foster homes because, when people found out her secrets, they abandoned her. Thankfully, she’s adopted by the loving and accepting Haught family, such that she becomes the heir to their cattle business and fortune. However, her new parents unexpectedly pass away, leaving the redhead alone and heartbroken again in ways money cannot heal. She has to fake they are still alive so she won’t get sent away again, and it could cost her everything.Waverly is hiding things, too. She’s prone to being bullied over being poor, an Earp, and a nerd, so she wears anything she can find or make so bullies don’t find out her secrets. She tries to avoid people around town, but works to save up for things she believes will make her feel more confident and whole.What will happen when these two start to learn each other’s secrets, though?After one decides she loves every single bit of the other?When arrogant Champ and cockblocking Wynonna enter the picture?Read along to find out!
Relationships: Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp & Wynonna Earp, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Wynonna Earp & Nicole Haught, Xavier Dolls & Nicole Haught, Xavier Dolls & Waverly Earp, Xavier Dolls & Wynonna Earp, Xavier Dolls/Wynonna Earp
Comments: 16
Kudos: 68





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iwishiwasbrave](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwishiwasbrave/gifts).



> Hello, everyone! Thanks so much for clicking here and giving this fic a chance. ;)
> 
> This fic is my first WayHaught-centered one and foray into exploring another type of long-term physical disability, so please be gentle on me in terms of feedback. Regardless, hope to hear from you all in the comments section because I'm an author who loves engaging with readers and, at times, incorporating their suggestions and writing new fics for them! :) <3
> 
> Anyway, hope you all are well and able to watch Wynonna Earp season four's premiere! #nospoilers ^_^ <3

Waverly Earp found out she wasn’t a true Earp at the tender age of ten and just before her older half sister, Willa, pushed her off a beam in their homestead’s barn. 

The heir to the Earp curse or blessing (depending on who you asked) told little Waves she was likely the product of an affair and the only way they’d know for sure whether she was half angel was if she got forced into a situation requiring her to fly. However, that assumption ultimately didn’t prove much in the moment; Waverly wouldn’t get her wings until years after her abuser went missing, and the bullying would show the cheerleader hopeful was more human than said abuser could ever be. 

Human enough to lose half of one arm because it got so badly broken that, when Wynonna returned home hours later from a friend’s house and called an ambulance for her passed out sister, it was far too late to save what remained. 

Human enough to not be able to grow a new one or conjure one with her premature powers, as much as she tried.

Human enough to comfort and feel bad for Wynonna after their troubled sister went missing, too.

Living without half of one arm was certainly challenging because she could be open about it at home, but felt like she had to cover it up when going off the homestead. Being poor, having the Earp last name, and being smart already made her a prime target for bullies if observations from watching Wynonna and other kids applied to her, and having a disability might lead to her facing even more trouble in the small and narrow-minded town’s schools. Thankfully, Aunt Gus and Uncle Curtis were gracious and supportive enough to let her take classes by correspondence the rest of elementary school and all through middle school so she could focus on her studies and less on what people thought of everything else. 

However, by the time high school rolled around, everything started to change. 

Specifically, Wynonna got out of juvie for what happened with their dad, so most of the kids around town were scared and wary of her. Plus, Uncle Curtis died for reasons which seemed tied to the curse, but he left a note for Waverly telling her she needed to give new people a chance to get to know her because, if they saw and appreciated what he had after all these years of raising her, they would love all of her. 

Thus, for the first time in years, Gus put her foot down and told Waverly she had to at least try going to an in-person school. Partly because she couldn’t be there for Wynonna all the time and manage Shorty’s, partly because the middle Earp’s newfound reputation as a crazy person and bat-out-of-hell gunslinger might make bullies think twice about coming after them, and partly because the change in scenery really could give Waverly new opportunities to learn and grow. 

Waverly grumbled and cried about the change during her tiff with Gus, then refused to come out of her room for a little while afterwards. However, the time alone gave her the chance to go through some of her old childhood things, namely family photos. In a rubber band-bound pile of them, Gus, Curtis, and Wynonna were all clapping for her as she went through her first cheerleading routines, science fair projects, songs, and poetry recitals for them and her teachers. The moments sifting through those pictures and all the memories they brought up made her realize she wanted to be there for Wynonna as she readjusted to life on the outside, but also do what Uncle Curtis said and branch out. Maybe, she could get more noticed for all her talents in a public high school and get a scholarship for college which could take her to somewhere more accepting and open-minded than Purgatory. 

Little did she know that, in many ways, the change would bring some of the best people and memories into her life.

Especially a Purgatory newcomer by the name of Nicole Rayleigh Haught.

\---

On the other side of the street from Waverly Earp and her family, Nicole was just getting settled into her family’s new western-style and cow-dominated estate. She’d been adopted by Hiram and Julie Haught about a year ago and really come to love them as her own, especially because they knew her secrets and loved her in ways nobody else had. However, she didn’t understand their decision to leave the more accepting big city they’d been living in to return to the small and strange town they’d left behind as teens. Something about giving her a taste of the country’s great air and their roots . . . whatever that meant.

Nicole was no stranger to getting down and dirty because she’d been participating in basketball, soccer, track, and lacrosse since she first entered the foster system at the age of eleven. However, she was still literally and metaphorically learning the ropes of her family’s ranching business, such that she was still pretty green when it came to cattle breeding, herding, grooming, feeding, showing, and selling. So green that, while her parents were out, she accidentally lost track of a cow and her little calf and, panicked, galloped next door to see if she could get help with finding them.

After she tied her horse, Dexter, to what was apparently a farm belonging to the Earp family, Nicole speedily knocked on the door and waited for someone to arrive while anxiously bouncing on her heels. Someone she’d come to know as Waverly, her best friend, and -- at least in her dreams -- something more.

“Hey there, Wynonna! Welcome home. Gus and I made dinner, and your room’s . . . all . . . tidy.”

Wynonna was supposed to be dropped off by the police at any minute, but the redhead standing on their front porch was clearly not the wiley and brazen brunette. In fact, it was someone she’d never seen before. Someone who made her feel so nervous all of a sudden that she dropped the prosthetic arm she’d made in the barn to slip under her clothes and pass as a normal teen to everyone around town, much to her embarrassment and worry. 

“Oh, gosh! Sorry to startle and bother you, ma’am. Here, let me get that for you,” Nicole replied, feeling bad she’d caused her only neighbor to drop what looked like a prosthetic arm and wondering if she should just run with her head down and her tail between her legs after handing it back. 

Unable to take her eyes away from the redhead’s face for some reason or refuse her attempt to pick up the arm she’d dropped like she would with any other seemingly able-bodied person, Waverly reached out to clasp her shoulder in comfort and replied, “It’s all right. Umm, just don’t tell anybody about this, okay? I mean, my arm, that is.”

At that request and how the brunette didn’t seem to hate her, Nicole smiled her classic dimpled yet shy smile, then replied with a twinkle in her brown eyes and an outstretched hand which awkwardly turned into an outstretched elbow in greeting, “Sure thing! Oh, and umm . . . I’m your new neighbor. Or, well, one of them. Nicole Haught. The first entry in the dictionary under ‘socially awkward’ and all its synonyms. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss . . . ?”

Stumbling in her mind over how Nicole had just tried to greet her like a normal person instead of saying anything demeaning about her arm, gawking, or asking what happened like a lot of people might, Waverly paused for a second, unsure of how to proceed. Then, she put on a sincere smile rather than her default one and warmly replied after bumping elbows in greeting, “Thank you. And I’m Waverly, by the way. Waverly Earp, lifelong resident of Purgatory and avid book reader. Sorry for calling you ‘Wynonna’ before; my sister is supposed to be back at any moment, and I thought she was the one at the door.”

Unable to stop grinning at the brunette before her like an idiot, Nicole eventually piped up after realizing she was silently staring into her hazel eyes a little too long, “Oh, umm, cool. I don’t have any siblings, but maybe that’s because I can’t keep track of my animals for more than a couple minutes. Or, really, my parents’ newest cow and calf. I sort of came over here because, well, I needed help finding them, and my parents won’t be home to help for at least a few more hours. But you’re busy and . . . umm . . . all of that . . . so I guess I’ll just . . .”

Waverly didn’t let Nicole finish or walk away, though. Instead, she grabbed the girl by the hand with her reattached prosthetic arm, then yelled out to Gus to tell Wynonna she’d be back before dark and make up for missing dinner if needed. She didn’t anticipate being gone with Nicole that long, but didn’t want her sister freaking out about her whereabouts and taking it out on the genuine-seeming neighbor girl. Especially because readjusting to being back on the previously demon-filled homestead post-prison was going to be hard enough, it was better to be safe rather than sorry when it came to setting expectations with her sister.

Nicole’s brain short-circuited at how such a beautiful girl was openly grabbing her by the hand and leading her gay heart away to find the missing mom and baby without a second thought. Part of her wished she could have that kind of confidence. Specifically, to go after what she wanted and mean it without second guessing herself and caring about what others thought. But, for now, all she could do was be a useless baby gay and do her best to not trip over her ever-growing legs while following her cow expert of a neighbor’s lead. 

Specifically, do her best to not stare at Waverly as she hosited herself up into Dexter’s saddle like she was born on a horse . . . or, fall out of said saddle after Waverly scooted incredibly close to the alpha parts Nicole was desperately trying to hide.

\---

Thankfully, finding the speckled cow and baby pairing didn’t take long with Waverly’s help. However, catching the two would be a completely different story for various reasons.

“May I ask you something, Waverly?”

At first, the hazel-eyed brunette stiffened at that question, thinking Nicole was about to ask something about her arm, prosthetic, or past. Thankfully, though, Nicole sensed that stiffness and clarified what she wanted to ask about.

“I mean, about ranching and all.”

At that elaboration, the tension in Waverly’s shoulders, back, and hips went away almost instantaneously. It would devolve into her most relaxed and lighthearted state ever when her redheaded neighbor kept going.

“My parents have tried to teach me how to throw a proper lasso to catch cattle for about a year now, but I can’t help but feel like I’m trying to toss wet spaghetti noodles to catch faraway meatballs in training which are staring at me and judging me with their little demony eyes. Do you have any tips for a novice or cityslicker like me? I mean, tips for how to throw a lasso well. Not beef tips because, umm, I’m actually a vegetarian who’s terrified of meatballs. And spaghetti. And spaghetti with meatballs on top.”

After Nicole stopped speaking and made a pouty face over how she was good at pretty much every sport besides cattle wrangling, then hid her face over confessing her food fears, Waverly couldn’t help but giggle and affectionately lean back into her. Then, the youngest Earp replied, “I get what you mean about being scared of eating meat, given I’m a vegan. You’re in Purgatory, though, so you might be surrounded by meat and demony eyes quite a lot. My family has a long history with handling both professionally, though, so you’ll probably be okay if you stick close by us. I’m sure my sister will want to have words with you to make sure you’re not a demon and okay to hang out with, but something tells me you’ll check out in both ways.”

After hanging on to every word Waverly said, Nicole smiled that warm and dimpled smile again, relieved she was in the company of someone who didn’t seem to judge yet was honest with her. She wasn’t sure what the brunette meant about Wynonna checking if she was a demon, but she let that go for the moment because Waverly was starting to teach her how to tie and throw a lasso properly.

Their main objective was to catch the mama cow with the lasso because, if they did, the baby would likely follow her back to the Haught corrals and barns pretty easily. Waverly had them practice properly lassoing a small and partly chopped down tree before they went closer to the mom and baby or spooked them, but it took a few tries for Nicole to even get close to the half-sized and barren trunk. The redhead started getting more confident and successful with each try, though, leading Waverly to encourage her to try on the mama cow now.

“Okay, Nicole. Easy does it, but be confident when you throw, and twirl the rope around the saddle horn so you won’t burn your hands if she balks at first. You can do this. Just focus like you would with any other sport, okay?”

Feeling emboldened and more capable because her born-to-be-a-cheerleader neighbor was supporting her all the way, Nicole took a deep yet quiet breath, closed her eyes, and envisioned her being successful at hitting her target like she would before a game. Then, she opened her eyes again, prepared the lasso, threw it, and felt “We Are the Champions” playing in her mind as her lasso successfully landed around the mama cow’s head and neck. 

“WOOHOO! Waverly, look, I did it! You’re such an amazing teacher,” Nicole whooped and exclaimed with amazement while fist pumping the air, unable to process how much progress she’d made in just minutes and because of the lovely stranger. 

Something about that compliment and the true appreciation on her newfound friend’s face did things to Waverly which she couldn’t explain. However, she wouldn’t have much time to think about them because the mama cow immediately showed she wasn’t happy about being caught. Specifically, the speckled cow started to whip her head and buck backwards, nearly falling over and pulling an ill-experienced Nicole up out of the saddle.

“OH MY GOSH! NICOLE, HANG ON! I’VE GOT YOU!”

Thankfully, Waverly was able to hang onto the saddle with her knees and thighs long enough to bear hug Nicole around her front. Or, well, attempt a life-saving bear hug.

Given Nicole was swept up so quickly and Waverly wasn’t completely prepared to catch her mid-air, her prosthetic arm landed in front of the redhead’s chest to stop it from soaring away, but her hand gripped far below the belly she’d hoped to stop from flying over Dexter’s head, too. Specifically, without meaning to, Waverly had caught Nicole by her groin during the debacle. What felt like a very well-endowed alpha groin, as the fear-related numbness in her hand started to fade.

Mortified over what had just happened, Waverly nervously rambled out in an attempt to awkwardly save her short yet already-meaningful friendship, “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry, Nicole. I really didn’t mean to grab you like that. Honest!”

Waverly started to feel a mix of fear and butterflies in her hot and sweaty stomach, especially as an equally hot and sweaty Nicole turned around to hoarsely reply between relieved gasps, “It’s okay, Waves. Thank you for saving me. But, uhh, please don’t tell anybody else. About me being an alpha, that is. Or, umm, what we talked about before. You know, me being afraid of spaghetti and meatballs. Okay?”

After the two stared into each other’s eyes and kept their faces close for what felt like a mini eternity, Waverly nodded in agreement. Then, she redirected Nicole’s attention to the mama cow because, as was the usual in Purgatory, something weird had happened. 

Specifically, the speckled and ornery cow had grown a set of horns as wide-set and sloped as those of another breed called a longhorn.

Unsure of whether she was seeing things due to the near-death experiences she’d just had from being ripped from the saddle and unintentionally felt up by someone she was instantly taking a liking to, Nicole stared open-mouthed at the mama cow. Then, she asked, “Umm, Waves? Are you seeing what I’m seeing? I mean, the horns? I would have brought my new glasses to make sure my vision hasn’t gone that bad, but . . . aww nuts, I left them at home!”

In response, Waverly just smiled her sincere smile again, hugged Nicole around the middle, took the somehow-returned rope to tie it around their saddle horn, and said with a mix of shyness and humor, “Yep! Our girl is horny now. I mean, uhh, horned. Ta da! Well, welcome to Purgatory, Haught. Everything is so weird here we make Austin, Texas look completely normal. Cows included, apparently.”

Having traveled around the country for sports and reasons she typically didn’t discuss, Nicole responded with a small yet sincere smile after getting Dexter to turn around and start walking them all back to her estate, “Thank you, Waverly. I don’t doubt it.”

A smile only rivaled by the one Waverly donned while hugging the redhead from behind as they rode and watched the sun go down in the distance.

The smile which stayed the whole time Waverly was dropping Nicole off at the Haught family’s front door.

“Well, uhh, thanks for everything today, pal. I guess I’ll see you again at school, then. If not before, I mean,” Nicole said in an awkward goodbye while looking at her newfound friend with a mix of shyness, hope, and affection. 

Feeling all of those feelings herself now, Waverly returned while tucking one strand of hair behind her ear and staring at the ground, then back up into Nicole’s eyes, “Uhh, well, yeah. See you at school. Bye for now, friend!”

Nicole wouldn’t admit this for awhile, but she’d stare after her friend for what felt like an eternity, then resume looking out at the Earp homestead after making dinner for her family and getting ready for school after they were done.

She wondered what it would be like to eat with the Earps and have them come over for dinner at some point, too. 

Maybe they could all make introductions, small talk, and good food if she plucked up the courage and asked. 

Well, if she survived the next day, meeting Wynonna, and being swept into social situations and groups she never wanted to be part of as an athlete. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again, everyone! Thanks for posting your positive comments, dropping kudoses, and otherwise giving this fic a chance. Your support makes my days better and brighter, so please keep sharing your thoughts. :) <3
> 
> This chapter covers some of the squad's first day of school. There will be some new characters, humor, sadness, angst, deep thinking, and mindless attraction with some hints about what the next chapter(s) will be like. ^_^
> 
> Anyway, enjoy, and have a great day!
> 
> Warnings/triggers: bullying, homophobia, anti-intellectuals, cliques, prison references
> 
> P.S. Hope you all will stay after you see the new slash I'm adding. There are hardly any fics with that relationship highlighted, and I loved it in the show. Also, you'll see how the currently more canon slash with Wynonna will not make sense in this fic as I write more chapters.

“D! E! V! I! Lllllllllllllll . . . S! De-vils, De-vils, De-vils, gooooooooooo spear ‘em! WOOOOOO!”

The first day of life at Purgatory High started off in the basketball gym with a pep rally in which the previous year’s cheerleaders led all the other students through school cheers and traditions. The administrators planned the event to kick off every year partly to get students excited about being there, but partly to give them time to meet new students, go through their class schedules, request any changes immediately, and get an early start on exploring different extracurriculars. 

The seniors were by far the rowdiest and loudest of the bunch, perhaps with the exception of wild and newly free Wynonna (who, to her family’s pleasant surprise, placed in junior year when assessed on what she’d learned while in juvie). However, because watching the seemingly able-bodied cheerleaders reminded Waverly of something she didn’t think she could have, she started curling into a corner of the bleacher and trying to tune out the cheering by reading her favorite book on dead languages. Nicole didn’t know why Waverly was so sad and disengaged, but leaned in and started to rub her back in support while trying to figure out the symbols she was making notes about in the margins.

Thankfully, Waverly didn’t shy away from the redhead’s touch or scold her attempts to read along. Rather, she welcomed their closeness and wished something more would happen. Something she couldn’t describe, but involved getting a better whiff of Nicole’s vanilla dipped donut smell while hiding inside her huge blue and white varsity jacket and leaning against her chest to find solace. She had never had friends over to cuddle or have slumber parties with, but -- in that moment -- she desperately craved what she’d been missing for years.

Thoughts of inviting Nicole to her house faded for a time, though. Partly because it was too damn loud to ask for awhile, but partly because Waverly was deeply preoccupied with making sure her sweater, gloves, and prosthetic arm didn’t shift or get touched by anyone but Nicole and Wynonna. She wasn’t ready to reveal that part of herself to others yet and, honestly, wasn’t sure if she ever would. Especially given what some bullies started to say to her once they were standing in line to get their class schedules.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here? Looks like the new kid derped so hard she wore her winter clothes to school in the middle of August. Wonder what she’s hiding under those gloves and that sweater? Maybe she has prison tats like Wynonna Earp and can’t show them or she’ll get suspended. Or, maybe she’s some freak like Edward Scizzorhands,” queen bee and resident asshole Stephanie Jones began, not recognizing her former childhood friend due to all the years Waverly had been virtually isolated from society.

Rallying around Stephanie, a mix of cheerleaders and popular girls started to mercilessly look Waverly up and down, judging her appearance while trying to figure her out.

Eventually, one of them replied, “Mmm . . . I don’t know. Maybe she has some disease all over or is a witch. I saw her drawing weird things in that book she was reading, so maybe she’s related to Constance Clootie. Who the hell brings a book to a pep rally, anyway?”

Thankfully, Wynonna was standing right in front of Waverly in the line and not about to let what she called “a bitch bitch, not a cool bitch” ruin her little sister’s first day. After turning around slowly and menacingly in her black leather jacket and matching choker necklace, blood red top, and dark biker jeans with skull hooks and chains, she threatened with clear yet quiet anger, “Say one more mean thing to or about my sister, and I will blow . . . you _all_. . . to hell.”

At her self-outing, words, and demeanor, the clique of girls recoiled some. However, Stephanie just smugly stood there and replied while looking the sisters up and down with disdain, “ _Oh_. Well, welcome back to Earth, Waverly. Be a dear and make sure your sister gets a butt lift so she’ll have at least one redeeming quality, hmm?”

Nicole was mad and wanting to defend Waverly before, but she was even more mad over those words because Wynonna’s ass was clearly top shelf, and Waverly didn’t owe the clique anything. Thus, stepping in front of Wynonna so the brunette’s just-opened switchblade knife wouldn’t be noticed, she put on a sickly sweet smile, made her eyes change to be consistent with what she truly was inside, and replied while sticking out her hand in faux greeting, “Well, well, well. Another lesbian! So glad to meet you. I’m Nicole, but I like ladies to call me Daddy while we’re doing it. Tell me, are you a top or bottom?”

Flabbergasted by what Nicole was saying, and terrified by her temporarily red eyes, the clique members’ faces paled as their mouths dropped to the floor. However, one of the more clueless bobblehead girls of the bunch -- one they’d eventually know was a Revenant with occasionally similar eyes -- managed to say when recovering some, “Umm, you can’t just ask if she’s a top or bottom during sex!”

In response to those words, Nicole just played it cool and replied with a more flirtatious smile and a wink at the end, “I meant of the cheerleading pyramid, but thanks for thinking about me in bed. That’s _hot_. Well, take care of yourselves, pillow princess and queens! I know I’ll be taking care of myself under the bleachers so you _all_ can hear how I celebrate coming out _on top_.”

Wide-eyed Stephanie was about to snap back with something incredibly homophobic, but a tall and muscular student in a military uniform came up from farther back in the line and asked her point blank, “Ma’am, do we have a problem here?” 

Wynonna couldn’t tell if she was more turned on by what Nicole said or the tall glass of chocolate milk standing in front of them. In prison, she found out she was attracted to guys and girls, as long as they weren’t serial killers or creepy clown types. She wasn’t too much a fan of anything reminding her of cops and prison now, but she liked the crisp white and navy uniform the JROTC officer had on enough to let her inhibitions and imagination go.

“Hello, Officer Dolls. I am a problem, and you can feel free to have me anytime.”

At those words and the brunette’s flirtatious wink, the JROTC officer and fellow junior donned what looked like a mostly stoic yet slightly questioning or annoyed look. Then, once he gathered his thoughts, he softly replied with a serious tone while leaning in and discreetly looking down at Wynonna’s knife, “Just don’t start something you can’t finish, okay?” 

Wynonna flushed and smiled hard at what was clearly not meant to be flirting, but sounded like it to her. Then, in her ever-casual and wiley way, she replied with a somewhat joking salute and glassy-eyed look while twirling her hair around one finger, “Yes, sir, officer!”

Satisfied with that response and how Wynonna had put her knife away, Dolls nodded respectfully toward her and everyone else involved, snapped into an attention stance, and turned with the precision the JROTC program taught him to return to where he’d been a few feet before. 

“Uggh, whatever. Let’s blow this dump, girls,” Stephanie said with a commanding snap, redirecting her clique to the various extracurricular booths it had set up earlier.

Though mortified and sad over the incident at first to the point she couldn’t form words, Waverly couldn’t help but feel a mix of gratitude and amusement over the things Wynonna and Nicole had said. She admired Nicole’s courage when it came to owning her sexuality and crappy people via sass, and she couldn’t help but giggle over how edgy yet well-meaning Wynonna had clearly fallen for a good guy rather than a bad boy for once. Thus, she hugged the duo to say what her mouth couldn’t.

Thankfully, before a strange sense of curiosity mixed with jealousy and worry began to set in Waverly’s stomach, the trio was next in terms of getting its schedules from the administrators sitting at the booth before them. Based on how they had some classes and other things like lunch hour or home room in common, they were confident the year was going to be pretty great.

Pretty great if Wynonna didn’t give their first period A.P. English teacher a heart attack before the first end-of-class bell rang, that is.

\---

Miss Horony-Cummings (or, as she told the students, Kate or Miss HC) was a smart and kind woman with beautiful skin which was dark like that of Officer Xavier Dolls. She’d led a hard life and decided to branch out into teaching English literature to help young people have a better time growing up than she had. However, nothing could have prepared her for what Wynonna had to say during their first A.P. English class together.

Not one to waste time or go too easy on students despite how it was the first day of classes, Kate decided to have the class begin its poetry unit and read sections of Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Buddha in Glory” poem aloud. When different volunteers from around the class had finished reading the three different sections of the poem, she used her roster to begin calling on students who hadn’t spoken yet to give their opinions on what the poem meant. To her regret, starting out with the eldest Earp sister.

“So, Wynonna, when Rilke wrote this poem, what do you think he was talking about?”

Remembering her favorite lines while propping her feet up on an unoccupied desk in front of hers, the uninhibited and hardened girl replied, “I think he’s talking about what happens when everyone goes to prison.”

Perplexed by that answer, and wanting to know more, the curious teacher asked, “Could you explain what you mean to us, please?”

Rolling her eyes a little internally, but wanting to vent about some things she’d gone through without letting others on to how she was truly a softie who’d been badly scarred by her experiences, Wynonna replied with a cheeky smile and mischievous look in her eyes, “Well, he wrote ‘almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet’ and ‘all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit’ in the first part of the poem, so he could be writing about a hardened criminal who’s trying to turn her life around and see the family she’s had to leave behind on the outside again. Also, he wrote ‘Now you feel how nothing clings to you; your vast shell reaches into endless space’ in the second part, so he could be talking about when all the guys and girls give up their clothes for prison uniforms, go to the showers for the first time, and wait in line forever to get tacos when it’s chow time. Well, unless they had the firmest boobs when all of us lined up while the guards weren't looking and took turns slappin’ ‘em to find out. Firmest knockers went to the front of the line every. Damn. Time.”

Somewhat horrified by that answer, Kate replied after gathering her wits and courage, “They put you in a prison ward with guys and girls?”

Amused by her teacher’s naivety, but wanting to be nonchalant about it, Wynonna shrugged, threw up her hands, crossed her feet, and dryly replied, “Hey, they put ya where they put ya.”

“Right,” Kate replied while nodding slowly, still in shock over what Wynonna had said and trying to find a way to transition to a more light and school-friendly subject.

Taking pity on their teacher, but also wanting to honor what Curtis said, Waverly raised her hand and replied when called upon, “The poem could also be about dancing, or maybe a dancer who’s in the process of growing up and trying out new things. Dancing involves the body’s ‘core of all cores’ as well as reaching into ‘endless space’ and wearing outfits which feel anything but clingy, and dancers are often like stars in the arts world who are ‘blazing high above your head’ if they do certain jumps, spins, or flips.”

Smiling in relief and she knew what good dancing was like, Kate sighed and replied, “True. Very true, Waverly.”

Nicole had hung onto every word Waverly had said. She hoped to someday see the brunette dance like that. Possibly if the cheerleading team got nicer or, if it didn’t, maybe just for her before and after games. She chastised Wynonna’s sweetly disgusted eyeroll and out tongue with a raised eyebrow, then cut in before she could say anything sarcastic about her polar opposite’s answer.

“Maybe it’s talking about someone who’s not from some place and who’s lost everything, but is finding her way. Or, umm, someone who is like a turtle in her shell because she’s afraid to be who she really is, but comes out of the shell when realizing she’s enough and she doesn’t have to cling to her shell, anyone, or anything to be who she is. She is her ‘core of all cores’ and capable of giving herself pleasure, whether it results in something touchable like ‘rich thick fluids’ or untouchable like the ‘infinite peace’ Rilke talked about.”

Kate smiled at that equally beyond-her-years interpretation of “Buddha in Glory” and prepared herself to ask another student what they thought, too. However, just before she called on Dolls (who wanted to draw a comparison between the poem and what goes on before, during, and after a war), the bell indicating the class was over for the day rang. Thus, she shouted as the students were all packing up to leave, “Take some time to read this poem and the ones in your packet part one tonight! We will be reading each aloud in class tomorrow and discussing what your first graded assignments beyond participation will be. Xavier will get first dibs to speak, given we ran out of time. Have a great rest of the day, all!”

Hopefully, the rest of the day would turn out to be as great as they and their teachers hoped. 

Nicole couldn’t wait to see what working with Waverly in their next class (A.P. Psychology) would be like, and she had gym as well as lunch hour with Wynonna to look forward to before noon. She also couldn’t wait to take a law enforcement elective she’d been ecstatic to see on the school’s course offerings, and she’d be back with her crush for history and the school’s obligatory career and life planning class after that one. 

Waverly was excited to have so many classes with Nicole as well as some with her sister and Dolls. She just felt lighter, safer, and happier with her new friend, and she had a feeling the four of them were going to be good friends if Wynonna could keep it in her pants long enough. 

She had every right to look forward to the rest of her day, though, given how much she’d learn about Nicole by the time the final bell rang. 

Given Nicole would invite her, Wynonna, and Dolls to dinner at the Haught estate after breaking away from the jock groups and their groupies.

Given she’d make three friends through other classes and catch the eye of a guy, too.

**Author's Note:**

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